


Matchmaker

by amiraculousladybug



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-15 16:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5792173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amiraculousladybug/pseuds/amiraculousladybug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A soon-to-be bride gets akumatized, and it's up to Ladybug and Chat Noir to stop her from tying all of Paris up in her red strings of fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Matchmaker

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CatyCoffeebean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatyCoffeebean/gifts).



> I had the song "Matchmaker" from Fiddler on the Roof stuck in my head the entire time I was writing this. I'm not even kidding.

_An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance._

_The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break._

“… And this is the lace I'm going to add to the hem.”

Marinette ran her fingers over the lace. It was soft and thick, and had obviously cost quite a bit of money. “It's beautiful, Elaine!” she gushed to the woman standing next to her. “Your fiancé is going to love it!”

Elaine beamed. “I hope so.” Elaine was a friend of the Dupain-Cheng family, and had often babysat Marinette when she was younger. Her passion for sewing had been part of what originally inspired Marinette's fascination with fashion designing. Watching Elaine sew her own clothing had been like watching magic. Now, she was going to be married, and she was sewing her entire wedding dress by hand. She had dropped by to place the order for the wedding cake with Marinette's parents and had ended up staying to show Marinette the fabric and design for her dress.

“I know so,” Marinette insisted. The entire design was beautiful—not too flashy, but not too plain either, wonderfully elegant in its simplicity. There was no way Elaine's fiancé wouldn't love it. “You're going to look gorgeous at the wedding.”

Elaine's cheeks flushed at Marinette's praise. “You sound so convincing. I—” She cut off as her phone beeped at her angrily, and pulled it out of her pocket to check the screen. Her smile dropped, replaced with panic. “Oh, shoot, the florist! I forgot Pierre and I were supposed to go over there at three!” She began shoving fabric back into her bag, giving Marinette an apologetic look. “Sorry to run off on you like this, but I really have to go. Pierre's probably getting sick of waiting. I'll come back to visit another time. Maybe you could help me with final adjustments once I've got the dress sewn.”

“I'd love to,” Marinette assured her. She ushered Elaine to the trapdoor and back down to the bakery. “Now hurry! You don't want to be late!”

“Thank you, Marinette! I'll call when I come to visit again!” Elaine promised as she rushed out the door. Within seconds she was lost to Marinette's sight in the people walking outside.

“Weddings are always so exciting,” Tikki remarked when Marinette returned to her room. The kwami had hidden well during Elaine's visit, concealing herself in a nook in the loft. Now she was perched on the top of Marinette's computer with a cookie in hand. “I hope her design turns out well.”

“I'm sure it will,” Marinette said. She sat down at her desk and pulled her sketchbook towards her. Seeing Elaine's design had gotten her itching to sketch a dress or two of her own. “It looks great on paper, and she picked out some really high-end fabric.”

Tikki watched Marinette begin to draw with interest. “What kind of wedding dress would you make for yourself?”

Marinette looked up from her sketchbook and smiled at Tikki. “I was just about to see what I can come up with.”

She had been drawing for several minutes—and rejecting several designs in the process—when her phone buzzed and displayed Elaine's caller ID. Marinette dropped her pencil to answer the call before it could go to voicemail. Had Elaine accidentally left something behind? She began looking around her for any bolts of white fabric or spools of thread. “Elaine! What's up?”

“Tell your parents they can cancel the cake order,” Elaine said. Her voice was hollow, as if she were in shock. “I won't be needing it anymore.”

“Why, what happened?” The call dropped. “Elaine!” She dialed Elaine's number, but the call was taken to voicemail. She tried again, with the same result.

“What is it?” Tikki asked worriedly, coming to hover by Marinette's shoulder.

“I don't know!” Marinette exclaimed. Part of her was frustrated at Elaine for hanging up without an explanation, but most of her was concerned at the way Elaine had sounded. Even though she knew she probably wouldn't get an answer, she punched in Elaine's phone number a third time. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Voicemail. Marinette shoved her phone in her pocket and hurried downstairs. Maybe Elaine was still near the florist's shop. Maybe she could find her and figure out what had prompted her strange phone call.

~

“Ah, the heartbreak of betrayal, being hurt by the one you trusted the most. How fragile a woman's heart can be. The perfect opponent to go up against Ladybug and Chat Noir. Fly, my little akuma, and blacken her heart!”

A dark butterfly landed on a spool of white thread.

“Matchmaker. My name is Hawk Moth. I have a little bargain for you …”

~

Tikki poked her head out of Marinette's purse. “This is the third florist's shop you've checked, Marinette. Elaine's probably gone home by now.”

“Just one more,” Marinette insisted, moving away from where she'd leaned against the shop to catch her breath after running there from the last shop she'd searched. She closed her purse before any passerby could see Tikki, and started down the sidewalk. She had almost reached the end of the block when there was a bright flash of red light across the street accompanied by a shriek.

Of course there would be an akuma at a time like this. Marinette peered across the street to see if she could catch a glimpse of the akuma or its victim. Someone standing on the other side was tugging at a red thread tied to their pinky. The thread stretched around the nearest corner and went to God-knows-where. The person next to them was having a similar struggle—apparently they were unable to untie the knot in the thread. Theirs led across the street, past Marinette and in between the buildings behind her. She couldn't see the end of that one, either. From overhead there was a cackle, and Marinette whipped to look at the laugh's owner.

The akuma was a woman, far overdressed compared to most other akuma in a vibrant white wedding gown trimmed with red lace. Hawk Moth's signature purple mask glowed across her face beneath her veil. In one hand she carried a pair of scissors; in the other, she held a spool of red thread.

“Congratulations, Paris!” the akuma shouted. “I, Matchmaker, am here to lead you to your soulmate! No more lies, no more breakups, no more cheating! And you'll be together _forever!_ ”

Marinette raised an eyebrow. Somehow this akuma didn't sound terribly threatening. How bad could the thread be if it led you to your soulmate?

Matchmaker snapped her fingers, and everyone's threads shortened. Two people across the street were slammed into one another, the thread connecting them only a few inches long. Another person was yanked by their thread into oncoming traffic and narrowly avoided being hit by a car.

Okay, _now_ this thread business was a problem.

Matchmaker looked down and saw Marinette, threadless, on the sidewalk. An unpleasant grin spread across her face, and she launched herself downward at Marinette. Marinette scrambled into the nearest building and out of the line of fire just in time.

“Do you think that's who I think it is?” she asked Tikki, opening her purse to let the kwami out.

“Something must have happened between Elaine and her fiancé,” Tikki agreed.

“We have to put a stop to this before she ties up all of Paris.” Marinette looked to check that no one was around. “Tikki, spots on!” As soon as her domino mask was in place, she left by another exit and ran outside to confront Matchmaker, yo-yo in hand. The akuma was nowhere to be seen. She must have moved to a different area. All over the sidewalk and street people were tugging at and wrestling with Matchmaker's red thread. Ladybug was tempted to stop to help them in their attempts to remove it, but she wasn't sure that she could. Besides which, cleansing Matchmaker would eliminate the thread problem much faster. She slung her yo-yo up to launch herself onto the rooftops and began searching the city for the akuma.

Ladybug had searched about three blocks before she was joined on her hunt by Chat Noir. “Hello, my lady. Are you looking for the bride of Hawk Moth too?”

“Did she get you?” She gave him a once-over, looking for any strands of red thread and sighing in relief when she saw none.

“She tried,” Chat answered. “I was too fast for her. She got the guy next to me, though. I see you're still string-free yourself.” He gestured to her hands.

“She almost got me,” Ladybug admitted. She yo-yoed across to the next building, Chat Noir hot on her heels. “We need to find her, fast, or she's going to turn Paris into a giant knot of thread.”

“I was on board with the whole soulmate thing until it started causing traffic accidents,” Chat remarked. “I would have liked to see if my thread brought me to you.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes at him. “Now is not the time for flirting. We have an akuma to find.”

“We could always follow the big flashes of red light,” Chat reasoned, pointing out across the rooftops towards a brilliant surge of light near the Eiffel Tower.

How had she missed that? Ladybug shook off her embarrassment at somehow overlooking the akuma's light display and started towards the tower. “Let's go.”

~

“Matchmaker, you've done wonderfully. Now it's time for you to uphold your part of the bargain. Bring me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous.”

Matchmaker grinned. “I'll string them up and bring them to you in a lover's knot, Hawk Moth.”

~

“Where did she go this time?” Ladybug and Chat Noir had arrived at the Eiffel Tower only to be greeted by the sight of people wrestling to free themselves of Matchmaker's thread and no Matchmaker.

“She really needs to quit stringing us along,” Chat Noir remarked. When Ladybug gave him an exasperated look, he just smiled cheekily at her. “She can't have gotten far.”

The words had barely left his mouth when there was a loud laugh from overhead, atop the Eiffel Tower. The two of them looked upwards. Matchmaker was a small white figure at the top of the tower.

“It's your turn to get matched, Ladybug!” she declared. She leapt down from her vantage point, launching her thread at Ladybug and Chat Noir. They ducked and dodged the flying strands of red with little chance to move onto the offensive. Matchmaker didn't seem to need to break in between attacks.

Then Ladybug paused for a moment to search her surroundings for anything she could use, and Matchmaker took advantage of the chance. Red thread flew forward and lashed around Ladybug's pinky with a burst of light. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she looked up to see who was tied to the other end of the thread.

It led straight to Chat Noir.

“What the—” Chat yelped, thrashing his hand to try to lose the thread. “She never hit me!” Then his eyes followed the path of the thread and his face lit up with comprehension.

“How precious,” Matchmaker said in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice. “The ladybug is in love with her kitty cat.”

Ladybug balked. “I am _not_ in love with him!” Chat was looking at her with a mix of hope and confusion in his eyes which she did her best to ignore.

Matchmaker laughed. “My matches are never wrong, Ladybug,” she informed her proudly. “Now hand over your Miraculous.”

“Never!”

“Oh?” Matchmaker raised one hand. “I guess I'll just have to deliver you to Hawk Moth in a bundle with loverboy, then.” She snapped her fingers.

There was a jerk from the thread on Ladybug's hand, and she found herself being dragged towards Chat as it shortened. She tried leaning back against the pull of the thread, but it did no good. “Chat, Cataclysm!”

Chat, who was also being dragged towards her, gave her a baffled look for a moment before he appeared to realize what she was thinking. “Cataclysm!” Black magic collected around his free hand, and he slammed it against the thread.

Nothing happened.

“What's going on?” Ladybug wondered aloud, barely containing her panic. Why hadn't his Cataclysm worked?

Matchmaker cackled. “Don't you know, Ladybug? The red string of fate can never be broken!”

Well, that was going to throw a wrench in things. Ladybug wasn't sure how well the two of them were going to be able to fight if they couldn't get rid of the thread. Especially if it shortened any more. It was already down to about three feet in length. Time to resort to something else. “Lucky Charm!”

A bottle of glue fell into her hands.

“Glue?” She stared at the bottle, mystified.

“I think the situation is sticky enough as it is,” Chat commented.

Matchmaker snapped her fingers a second time, shortening their string further.

Ladybug looked around for something, anything that could help. The Eiffel Tower and Matchmaker's scissors flashed spotted red in her vision. “Follow me,” she instructed Chat.

“Give it up, Ladybug, and hand over your Miraculous!” Matchmaker shouted.

Ladybug ignored her and made a mad dash for the Eiffel Tower. Matchmaker was in the air, giving her an advantage over the both of them, but if they could launch themselves just right … “On three, we jump for her.” She lassoed them up onto the side of the tower with her yo-yo, clutching the glue in her tied hand. “One.” She unscrewed the cap of the glue bottle.

Matchmaker flew towards them, reaching out to snatch their Miraculous.

“Two.”

Chat Noir tensed beside her.

“Three!” They pushed off from the Eiffel Tower as hard as they could. Chat managed to grab onto Matchmaker's arm as they sailed through the air, keeping them from falling to the pavement below. Matchmaker flailed in an attempt to make him let go, and, when that didn't work, swung her scissors at him. He managed to duck just in time. When Matchmaker pulled her hand back to aim for another blow, Ladybug glued the blades of the scissors together.

“Hey!” Matchmaker ceased her attack and instead began wrestling with her scissors. The spool of thread which she had been holding in her other hand dropped to the ground.

“Chat, let go!”

Chat raised an eyebrow but did as she instructed. They fell to the pavement, and Ladybug snatched up the spool of thread. Between it and the scissors, she was willing to bet this was the akumatized item—Elaine hadn't had any scissors with her earlier, but she _had_ had plenty of thread. She broke the top off the spool. “Get out of there.”

Her guess had been correct. A dark butterfly came fluttering out of the broken spool. “No more evildoing for you, little akuma.” She swung her yo-yo to capture it, being careful not to hit Chat Noir, who was still tied to her. “I free you from evil!” The akuma was snatched up by the yo-yo, and she roped it in. “Gotcha.” When she opened the yo-yo, the butterfly emerged a pure white. “Bye bye, little butterfly.”

To her relief, the thread vanished as soon as she used Miraculous Ladybug. Matchmaker's wedding gown and veil disappeared, leaving a very confused Elaine in her place. “Huh? How did I …”

“Well done!” Chat and Ladybug bumped fists, as they always did, and then Chat added, “I wasn't expecting your string of fate to lead to me. Maybe my luck is better than I thought it was.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes but smiled at him. “In your dreams, kitty. I'm pretty sure her 'string of fate' was arbitrary.”

“Maybe,” Chat agreed. “But then again, maybe not. I'll see you later, my lady.”

He turned to leave, and for one moment she thought she saw a red glint between their hands, just a hair's breadth across.

She shook her head. There was no way Matchmaker's thread had actually led to people's soulmates. It had to be arbitrary.

Didn't it?

_An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance._

_The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break._

 


End file.
